The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1887-09-08
COUNT LEO ToLSTOL
He Talks Earnestly ON Brins inS About the
Reign of Peace on Earth.

Il
Reign of Peace on Earth.
Count Leo Tolstoi has been inter-
viewed by Mr.. KEENAN,. who has elected
from him in nutshell the whole prin-
ciple of the Counts mysterious relig-
4 ious views. Down at Yasnaya Polyand.
in the Province of lula, the most IA
nous of Russian authors is still living
the life of alaborer, emerging only now
and then when weighty philosophical
questions are discussed at Moscow or
St Petersburg. He was coming home
from his work in the fields, dressed like
, a peasant, his face and neck bronzed
by the sun, and his gray hair parted on
the forehead and cut all round the head,
peasant fashion. Mr.. KEENAN,. after
having explained the reason of his visit.
was invited into bare whitewashed
room, where the conversation turned
on Mr.. Remnants recent experiences in
Siberia. He described the miserable
life of the convicts il glowing colors,
and burning with Indignation. Count
Tolstoi remained strangely calm at the
account of all the misery, and after
being asked whether he did not think
that under such oppression resistance
became duty, he said: "That depends
on what you mean by resistance. Ii
you mean persuasion, reasoning, peace
full representation. am with you; if
You mean violence. say, no."
With grave, calm eloquence, the man
in laborer's dress. with gray hair and
Offering eyes, talked long time on
the subject, and to all the cases of
brutal cruelty which Mr. KEENAN, put
before him he still, when questioned,
replied: mo, you must not have re-
course to cruelty" Then his inter-
viewer tested the Counts views to the
utmost point by telling him the story of
a young girl, honest, well educated,
heroic even, whom he had seen among
the prisoners in Siberia. Condemned
for political conspiracy with several
hundred young people of her age, she
had been brought to Krasnoyarsk, in
Eastern Siberia There the local Gov
ernor gave the order that she should
exchange her own dress for that of the
convicts. Rightly or wrongly, the girl
thought that political prisoners were
exempt from this indignity, and refused
to obey. Then ensued horrible scene
of violence. Seized by five or six men,
against whom she resisted to the very
end, she was stripped. knocked down,
and, bleeding and naked, hell down
by the men, and then forcibiv pressed
into the convict's dress. Having given
all the details of this revolving
scene. Mr.. KEENAN, continued: And
now suppose this had happened under
your eyes? Suppose that this young
girl who was so barbarousiy treated had
asked for your protection? Suppose she
had been your daughter would you have
hesitated to defend her by force?"
Count Tolstoi remained silent for a mo-
ment; his eyes were filled with tears,
and finally he said: care you quite
sure that this has really happened?"
LAS sure as one can possibly be-" He
relapsed into silence, and then, evadlng
the direct question, the Count replied:
Even in similar case the using of
force would not be justified. The Gov
ernor of Krasnoyarsk is brute. The
soldiers charged with the execution of
his order are brutes, but this does not
give you the right to go down to tneir
level Suppose you had just been able
20 prevent this revolving injustice by
killing three of the soldiers? Where
would be the advantage? Other soldiers
as unconscientious as the former would
have finished that which you would only
have retarded, and there would have
been at least three dead men. At the
moment of your Intervention there
would have been only one center of evil
there would have been three
or four, if not more. This, Mr.. KEENAN,,
is not the way to establish the reign of
peace on earth. "-PIH Mall Gazette.